Overview
Overview and strategy for the Dutch civilization.
Dutch overview.
The Dutch are one of the European civs, which all have similarities, but let’s look at how the Dutch are different;
1. They have a limited number of settlers. This is a disadvantage, but is made up for by #2.
2. They can produce banks, something like 9 of them if you do it right. These buildings produce a steady stream of coin. I’d say this is an advantage of the Dutch, but really it only offsets the Dutch lack or workers by requiring little or no plantations.
3. A full Dutch economy only uses up 50-54 population. This is the Dutch advantage. 50 extra population is like 10 horse cannons, or a whole group of 50 ruyters or skirmishers. 50 extra population is a 50% bigger army than most other civllizations in the game.
Units of the Dutch.
Now let’s look at the Dutch units a bit (ignoring mercenaries);
Skirmishers: Not unique in AoE3, but they get special mention because they are the only Dutch ranged infantry. Personally I consider this an advantage. Most people use musketmen, skirmishers are made to kill musketmen, so Dutch usually win. Also skirmishers are usually not available until age 3, Dutch get them in age 2.
Ruyters: Replacing the dragoons of other armies, ruyters are almost like dragoon strelets, weak but numerous. While they aren’t exactly half the cost of dragoons, they should be used in groups of twice what you’d normally do, maybe more because you can. Not only do they work good as a generic ranged unit vs just about anything, they also happen to excel against hand cavalry and have good bonuses vs artillery. Their siege damage, however, is atrocious. One final bonus ruyters get is they are something called a royal guard unit”, this means they can be upgraded above and beyond what other civilizations would be able to (if they got them at all).
Halberdiers: Not unique in AoE3, but they are also a royal guard unit for the Dutch. This means they can be upgraded more than the halberdiers of other civilizations. I admit I don’t use them much, and I probably should…
Heavy cannons: Another unit not unique, but they get special mention because I believe Dutch can get more use out of them than most other civs. Other civs usually need their factories for resources, Dutch are not as likely to be so desparate, and 2 factories producing free heavy cannons can be terrifying.
Envoys: Almost didn’t mention them, but they are useful. At worse you can use him as a meatshield for your explorer by having him punch guardians before you shoot them. At best the envoy is a good sighted unit that moves a decent speed. Envoys are useful for finding the enemy base early, which is required for a good rush (see later). I heard something about them being a non-combat unit, so they aren’t targetted by enemies that move close, but that is apparently crap. I would never build an envoy, but use the one you start with to explore and then finish by placing him where you want to have a lookout for approaching enemies, either right between your bases, or on a flank.
Further weaknesses of the Dutch (vs cavalry in age 2).
One major problem I have as Dutch, is an early lack of anti-cavalry. Especially against the Germans. I’m talking about age 2, because in age 3 you get ruyters. Now this problem shouldn’t last long, but we’ll talk about Dutch aging in depth later. I know they have pikemen, but really, it’s pikemen…
How to fix this? Well, sadly the 8 pikemen card helps a bit, but again, it’s pikemen. A portugese team card can give you ruyters in age 2, but that’s too specific. The only other defense i’ve ever found is overwhelming numbers of skirmishers, like 2-3 per cav unit attacking. Not cost effective, but no other options.
I suppose if you had the right natives that could help, but most likely they will just end up being something like a skirmisher, or something like a pikeman.
So how do you fix this? Get out of age 2 as quickly as possible. Go to age 3 using the fast aging official, or age with the one that gives you some halberdiers. Maybe the others, I don’t remember what they do. I just know that getting out of age 2 is in your best interests for any strategy you plan to do with the Dutch, bottom line.
Treaty Games
The Dutch are a treaty game civilization if i’ve ever seen one. The longer you leave them alone the more powerful they become. If you ever have the option of doing a treaty game vs normal supremacy, take the treaty option.
In a 10 minute treaty you become immune to rushes. Maybe even get to age 3 and not have to worry about that cavalry issue I was talking about.
In a 20 minute treaty you can get to age 3 and have a decent sized army of skirmishers and ruyters, and be well on your way to age 4.
Anything longer than that and it’s just gravy. Your economy should overcome theirs and you might even have an overwhelming army ready. That’s the basic tactic for any game, boom, army focus, win.
The Dutch rush.
The Dutch? Rush?
Yes, I think. If rush means “attack before 10 minutes”, then yes, if it’s “win before 10 minutes”, then no. I thought that a rush was mainly meant to win early, or at least cause so much destruction that you have the advantage from that point onward. The 2nd one is the Dutch rush, though their destructive power is rather lacking. This comes down to the Dutch having only 2 units, pikemen and skirmishers, available in age 2.
Pikemen are good at killing enemy cavalry you might encounter when you go to attack their base. For the most part that is all, though their ability to take down buildings is better than the skirmisher. I think their defense is worse though. Usually I ignore pikemen alltogether, but there is this 1 thing that makes me use them: the age 2 eight pikemen card. It’s actually the only unit card Dutch can get in age 2. 8 extra guys is worth getting, even if they do nothing but absorb shots. When in the base, use them to take out towers 1st and villagers 2nd. If you’re lucky you might have done something, anything, before they die and no one remembers them.
Skirmishers are your other age 2 unit, and are great for taking out workers and sniping workers from out of tower/blockhouse range. Don’t even bother to take out buildings unless they are mostly destroyed or you have no targets and aren’t being shot at (which you probably always will be). Use the skirmishers to kill villagers, hunt down villagers, and create a wall of guns between the villagers and their resources. Careful of units that have same or longer range than you (*cough* longbowmen).
That is how the Dutch rush. If you do it right you should have 8 pikemen and 10 skirmishers at just after 8 minutes. That should be enough to take out any troops and a tower or 2, then kill villagers. You can keep reinforcing this too if your barracks was built close enough. I think new skirmishers can come out every 30 seconds or faster.
You have to remember your goals though: destroy as much of their economy as possible, waste their time. Keep an eye on when it’s time to fall back or go villager hunting. You decide on whether to reinforce or keep him holed up in his tc in fear. But there is more to remember: this rush is not your victory, you have no destructive power in age 2. This is only to buy time. Don’t use up all your resources, you need to hit age 3 asap. Age 3 cannons, vs a guy in age 2 with no resources, is your victory. So never lose sight of your own economy and base defenses (just in case) while this attack is going on.
“So, uh… how do I rush again?”
I start the game with 5-6 workers on gold and 1 to pick up crates (maybe 2 if you have a computer ally who can steal them). Put the last villager and all villagers you produce on food until you hit 8-10. Age up using the official that gives 400 wood, this will give you a barracks and enough houses to do what you want. While you are aging you should have enough resources to queue up some villagers and make 10 skirmishers once the barracks is built. If you plan to press the attack build the barracks close to the enemy base, but not in a spot he’d find easily. You should probably have 1 woodcutter around that area ahead of time.
Dutch tricks.
54 villagers: If you max out your villager count then age up with the official that gives 4 villagers, you will end up with 54. You should be careful not to lose any, because you can’t train any new ones if you have over 49.
Dutch tactic (mercenaries).
When you face an army you typicall expect them to field units that their army contains, and other such obviousness. This is where the Dutch, more so than other civilizations, can throw in some card tricks (see what I did there?). Mercenaries come from 2 sources; your cards or your saloon.
I thought I checked, and the only age 3 mercenary card that was decent for a late “rush” was the 12 swiss pikemen for 1000g. Unlike normal pikemen, who i’ve mentioned being useless, these guys are deadly. Use them to kill any cav that get near, but keep them on building destruction for the most part. Even if you aren’t going to do this attack, which can be as early as 10 minutes, you might want these guys out just to sit around in your base or near far workers for defense.
The saloon is variable, because that depends on the map being played. Admittedly I almost never build a saloon unless I plan do to do something with a Dutch mercenary army. So I won’t mention each mercenary and what they can do, I will just point out that most of them suck and aren’t worth it. However, and this is a big however, there is this little card that changes the saloon into a dance hall. And we all know how much ronin love to dance, so they can then be trained from this place.
Let me tell you, when you expect a Dutch army and get attacked by 30+ ronin instead, it kind’ve ruins your game. Never go generic, always think about what your options are and surprise people.
Dutch tactics.
If you read through this guide you will find stuff here and there that gives good advice. I haven’t yet come up with names for different dutch tactics, but i’m sure that a search in the right place could find some. Someday I may come up with some named ones on my own. Until that time, I say “tot ziens”.
I wrote this in 1 sitting in 2 hours. If I missed something i’ll add it later. Please tell me about any mistakes or things you think should be included in this guide.